Supporting Cardiff City has provided a lot of entertaining memories, and I'm glad that dad brought me along to the games some 12 or so years ago.
The good and the bad times:
We've not always been entertaining in a positive way. Only the Bluebirds could throw away a 4-0 half time lead to Peterborough and travel home on a draw. Only the Bluebirds could miss out on a play-off place by one goal on the last day of the season, and of course only the Bluebirds could lose when they finally reached Blackpool in the Wembley final.
However, we've had our fair share of positive entertainment, too. Michael Chopra's late winner against Swansea, Joe Ledley's semi-final goal against Barnsley, David Marshall's penalty saves against Leicester to take us to Wembley and of course, Craig Bellamy's free kick against Doncaster on his return to his home-town club. One of my favourite times as a young bluebird was our exciting away day to Chelsea; Cardiff City taking the lead against the Premier League giants. Dad woke me up in the morning and said 'we're off to Stamford Bridge', it was fantastic.
Lack of creativity:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/cardiff-city/results |
My problem with Cardiff City at the minute, is that there isn't really any good or bad entertainment. I should of course mention, that seeing Vincent Tan wear the blue jersey was a significant statement for us Cardiff fans. It represents our passion and commitment to maintain the culture of our club.
However, on the pitch, our performances are bland. We lack quality and desire, and have repetitively bad tactics led by a clueless manager. Of course, results are the most important thing, and the 1-0 victory away at Wigan, and a few clean sheets are positive. But apart from that, where are the goals? Where are the performances? The Championship is one of the most exciting, and unpredictable leagues, but there's not a lot going on at the minute.
I miss players like Jay Bothroyd, Ross McCormack, Michael Chopra and Super Kev.
They were the majority of fans favourites, but most importantly, they were positive players. They weren't afraid to run at the opposition, they created chances, and from this sparked positive football. When I look back at Chris Burke's time as a bluebird, I remember how fans would always be chanting about him running down the left and the right.
At the minute though, there's not a lot of creativity. I find it difficult to name one spark player. Craig Noone, a once positive and promising player no longer runs at people. Kenwynne Jones has experience and has scored a few valuable goals this season, but when you compare Le Fondre's revitalized scoring at Bolton, it doesn't reflect too well on the club. I feel for Whitts, because he has provided some fantastic moments for Cardiff City FC. He's always been a reliable and influential player and one that I respect, but his rare and reckless sending off against Wolves epitomises the situation.
I can deal with losing, and I can deal with the drama, because as a Cardiff City fan, this is a given. But it's difficult at the minute watching a team that offers no real entertainment factor. I've always been used to the frustration of watching the Bluebirds concede goals, it's a strange one to see us not scoring enough.